


Ring the Bells That Still Can Ring

by Intergalactic_Asher



Category: Incarceron Series - Catherine Fisher
Genre: F/F, I have thoughts and feelings ok, M/M, Politics, Post-Canon, and also smorch, and i just think the girls should be friends, canon-compliant until catherine comes out with that third book, here's how finnkeiro can still win, i.e. me rubbing my filthy anarchist hands all over this book series, idk if it will come up in fiction but KEIRO IS TRANS IN THIS STORY, listen i'm a big gay loser and I like these books a lot, trans Keiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29299167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intergalactic_Asher/pseuds/Intergalactic_Asher
Summary: The world has ended, but the sun still rises.It's time to clear the rubble, and see what's left.
Relationships: Attia & Finn, Attia & Keiro, Attia/Claudia, Claudia & Finn, Finn/Keiro
Comments: 17
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, friends! I'm going to try something EXTREMELY ambitious and write a multi-chapter fic... Potentially a very long one...
> 
> This is technically a sequel to my other Incarceron fic, How the Light Gets In, but only in that that fic is meant to be canon-compliant, and this takes place after the books end.

Attia had heard of the sun, but she had never imagined it would be so…

Well, she didn't even really have the words for it.

The brightness, the size, the slow way it crept into the sky - it was like nothing she could have envisioned. In the prison, lightson was sudden, matter-of-fact, clean. This thing- dawn? - made no sense to her. But it was certainly pretty.

She was the first one to wake - she hadn't really gone to sleep - and she watched in silence as the world grew lighter by degrees. She had to squint eventually; daylight seemed a thousand times brighter than anything she'd seen in Incarceron, even when the prison was at full power. 

She was struck once again by the fact that she'd really done it; she'd made it Out. This wasn't an electric light that the Prison might snap on and off at will; it was the  _ sun _ , and nobody could take it away from her. The thought made her dizzy.

She must have moved and disturbed Keiro, who was sleeping in a ball beside her. He sat up suddenly, waking quickly the way all Prisoners did. In Incarceron, you learned to come to your senses fast.

He looked around for a moment, clearly bewildered, then seemed to remember himself. "So it was real, then," he murmured, in a tone he almost certainly didn't mean for Attia to hear. Attia's ears were keen, but she decided not to invade his moment of privacy. Instead, she stood up and shook her arms, as if removing the last vestiges of the night. They were in the grass, and everything was cool and wet. Including Attia's clothes. She grimaced, but put a neutral expression on her face before she turned to face Keiro.

"I guess I'm not your Oathbrother anymore, then," she said, keeping her voice even as possible.

Keiro was looking at Finn, his own face an inscrutable mask. "I guess you're not," he said.

"So what are-"

"I owe you, though."

Keiro's words stopped Attia in her tracks. "You… owe me?" she asked.

"Sure I do." Keiro shrugged. "You saved me from those nest girls, didn't you?"

"Yes, but you were-"

"Attia," Keiro interrupted, sounding annoyed. "You saved me. I owe you now. You're not my Oathbrother anymore, but I owe you. Okay?"

Oh, for god's sake.

Of course Keiro would come up with some excuse to stay on good terms with her. He couldn't just be her friend, no, that would be something a normal, sensible person might do. The great idiot. Still, she couldn't help feeling touched that he was bothering in the first place, so rather than chew him out the way he deserved she just raised a wry eyebrow at him. "Okay," she said. "You owe me. Happy now?" He flashed his most obnoxious grin at her, and she thought her eyes were going to roll out of her skull.

Their conversation was cut off there, though, because at that moment Finn shook himself awake.

The way both of their attention immediately snapped to him was almost disconcerting.

"His Majesty awakes," said Keiro, as if he himself hadn't been fast asleep just a few minutes ago. He stuck his hand out and mussed Finn's hair, already a rat's nest from sleeping on the ground. "Well?" he said. "Come on, Brother, show us our kingdom."

Attia turned away from this, looking up at the massive house instead. It was built of stone blocks that must have once been beautiful, but now were crumbling and moss-covered. It looked ancient, with half the roof caved in, more of a ruin than a house. Had the Warden and Claudia really lived here? When she'd seen Claudia in the Key she always seemed to be surrounded by opulence. This house was like a ghost of that world. Attia had pieced together some of what must have happened from the panicked conversations she'd heard last night. The Prison hadn't just drained its own power in its attempt to Escape itself; it had daken from the world Outside as well. There must have been some kind of electric infrastructure supporting the luxury Claudia and her father had lived in, and it was all gone now.

They were huddled in a courtyard, the great stone walls shutting them in on all sides. They would have to walk through the desecrated house to get anywhere. Last night, Attia had been happy to get to the ground as quickly as possible, but now she wished they'd chosen their landing point a little more carefully.

The back of Attia's neck prickled, and she turned to see Claudia watching her. She hadn't moved - Keiro and Finn probably thought she was still asleep - but she had fixed Attia with a glare that could burn a hole through solid metal. Attia glared back and thought about saying something, calling her out, but decided instead to return her attention to the boys. "We should get going," she said.

"But what about-" Finn looked over at Claudia to see her stretching sleepily, looking for all the world like she had just woken up. For a moment Attia questioned whether she'd actually seen Claudia watching her- but no, she couldn't have imagined it. Claudia had taken her cue, that was all.

Finn was, of course, oblivious to all of this. "Good morning," he said to Claudia, his voice taking on a far more exaggerated form of his usual accent. He looked up at Attia and offered a weak smile. "Good morning."

So this was how it would be. In the Prison he had trusted her, maybe had trusted her more than he trusted Keiro. Now that they were Outside, she was back to the bottom. And he knew that she knew.

"Good morning, Finn," Attia said, offering a hand to help him up. She still owed him a life-debt, after all. And he'd trusted her once before. Maybe she could remind him why.

He took her hand and stood up, looking around at the desecrated mansion. "I'm sorry, Claudia," he said as Claudia came to stand beside him.

"It looks worse in the daylight, doesn't it?" She said quietly. She was wearing what might have one been the dress Attia first saw her in, a faded, dingy blue material. But where it had one puffed out to either side, now it hung limply, dragging on the ground around her feet.

"We need to leave," Attia said again, insistent. She looked around for Keiro - he was pacing the edges of the courtyard, staring hard at the walls. "Who knows how long this place will stay standing."

Finn looked very obviously at Claudia for confirmation. Attia struggled to keep her face neutral. Claudia said, "She's right." There was no venom in her voice, but Attia suspected that was intentional.

The three of them picked their way across the courtyard, skirting around broken pavers and clumps of weeds, to the place where Keiro stood at the door to the house. "Lead the way, Princess," He said to Claudia, making an elaborate bow as she walked past him into the house. Finn followed Claudia, and Keiro followed Finn, leaving Attia to take up the rear.

The sun was bright outside, but the house was gloomy, light shining in weakly through the dingy windows, and in interior rooms not at all. Claudia led them in silence through the twisting hallways - left, then right, then right again- until they came to a wide, open parlor. This room seemed more intact than others, and there was still glass in all but one of the window panes. Claudia stopped in the doorway, her shoulders slumped.

"It's still so strange," she said quietly. "I had truly believed this house was real. We took such care to make sure everything was authentic." She turned to look at Finn. "Do you mind taking a detour? There's a memento I- well, I need to know if it still exists."

"Are you crazy?" said Keiro, echoing Attia's own thoughts. "This whole place could come down any minute, and you want to go looking for trinkets?" Claudia began to protest, but he interrupted her. "Finn, you're mad, but this place is even madder. Come on, let's get out of here."

Finn crossed his arms, stared at the floor. "It's important to her," he said. "She's just lost everything, Keiro."

"The front door is that way," said Claudia, pointing. "Turn right, then it's the double doors. You can go on without me."

Keiro looked at Finn, who had made no move to leave. "Like hell," he said.

"Fine. Then wait here." 

"Like hell," Keiro repeated, shouldering past Claudia into the parlor. "Alright then, Princess, show us where this precious treasure of hours is. What's worth risking all our lives for?"

Claudia didn't respond to Keiro. She crossed quickly to the hearth on the far end of the room, tapped on a brick just above the fireplace. "Damn," she muttered. "The lock was electric. Hang on, there's an override, let me just…"

Attia and Finn followed slowly into the parlor. Attia looked around. The former grandeur of this room was more obvious than it had been in the rest of the house. The floor was covered in an ancient, moth-eaten rug that had clearly been woven with an elaborate pattern; the upholstery had rotted away, but the bones of the furniture beneath were still gorgeous and ornate. Attia ran her hand along the top of a chair; dust caked her fingertips, but the wood was still glossy-smooth.

"Got it!" came Claudia's voice from the hearth. "Now let's see- oh, thank god." She pulled something from behind the false brick. Attia saw the gleam as she slipped its chain over her neck and then hastily stuffed the object down the front of her dress. "Okay," she said. "Let's-"

The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion, and yet somehow all at once. Something above them made a loud cracking sound; Claudia looked up; dust began to fall around her. Keiro sprinted for the parlor entrance. Finn yelled, "Claudia!" but Attia was already in motion. In an instant she was across the room, her arms around Claudia's waist, and then there was the sound of shattering glass and splintering wood, and then they were rolling across the muddy ground.

As soon as they came to a stop, Attia pushed herself to her feet. Part of the building facade had come apart, making it look like part of the house had simply given up and slumped over. Attia couldn't tell how far in the damage went. "Keiro?" She said. Then, louder: "Keiro! Finn!"

"We're alright," came a voice that seemed impossibly far away. Finn's voice. Attia's heart started beating again.

"We'll take the long way around." Keiro's voice this time. Attia could breathe, suddenly. "Take a left then the double doors. Right?"

"We'll hold them open for you," said Claudia, who had walked up behind Attia. She sounded remarkably unshaken for someone who had just been tackled out of a falling building. "Be quick."

"I was planning on taking my sweet time," said Keiro, and even through the layers of wood and stone Attia could hear the sardonic note in his voice.

Claudia motioned for Attia to follow her. From the outside it wasn't a long walk to the front doors, but getting the rusty hinges to open was another matter. They didn't speak as they worked. Attia managed to pry one door open by a couple of inches, and Claudia dug her fingers into the gap. They were both sweating with the effort, but managed to heave it open just enough for one person to slip through. Finn's bewildered face appeared, and then Keiro's, looking worse for wear but still carrying that arrogant expression that made him so hard to read. For a moment, the four of them simply stood together on the stoop.

"We should leave," Finn said. "A beam fell down inside. I don't think the rest of the house has very long. I'm sorry, Claudia."

Claudia shook her head. "I have what I need," she said, and pulled up the object she wore around her neck: a metal stamp with a slender wooden handle. "The Arlex family seal. If I'm right, the Havaarna crests are either fake, or buried under rubble. This is the highest rank left. We'll need it for… whatever comes next."

Attia didn't know what a family seal or a Havaarna crests was, but wearing the little thing did seem to bolster Claudia, to bring back a bit of the imperious, surefooted woman Attia had seen in the Key. She led them swiftly now, down the lawn. Most of it was still covered in green grass, though there were patches of tangled bramble and barren ground.

Eventually they reached the remains of a campground: fallen flags, rotten tents, and a few rusted weapons scattered the ground. "The wardenry tenants live west of here," Claudia said. "They might help us, but it's a long way, and I don't know what the state of the path is anymore. We should tend to your arm before we keep going." Attia looked down and realized she was bleeding.

"We'll scavenge for supplies," said Finn. "I doubt there's any medicine, but there might be bandages."

But before he and Keiro could go off to search, there was a great rumbling behind them. All four of them stood and watched as first the roof, then more of the facade, and finally the whole great house of the Warden of Incarceron collapsed in on itself, letting out one last furious roar as it fell to rubble.


	2. Chapter 2

Most of the plant life at the Wardenry was real, which was a relief to Finn. The Realm's forests and grassy fields had been comforting in the long and terrifying months he'd spent at Court, and it was good to know that, at least in one place, they still existed.

They'd made it about halfway to the Wardenry village when the sun had begun to set, and now Finn and Keiro were gathering firewood while Attia and Claudia made camp. Finn couldn't help thinking of the last time they'd done this, in the Ironwood forest. Finn had snuck off to talk to Claudia, and Keiro had killed the sheep that got Finn and Gildas arrested. How long ago had that been, now? It was less than a year, but it felt like lifetimes.

Keiro had gathered a small bundle of firewood, but seemed now to be pacing the same ground over and over. He kept glancing over his shoulder at Finn, then trying to look busy.

"There might be more wood over that way," said Finn, pointing.

Keiro looked in the direction Finn had indicated. "Maybe," he said, then went back to his pacing.

Finn rolled his eyes. Keiro was lazy, but this was ridiculous. "You ought to go and gather it, then."

Keiro's eyes flashed. "Don't talk to me with that voice, Finn."

"What voice?"

"Like you're better than me. Like you're a Prince and I'm just Prison scum. Don't forget, Brother, I've seen you at your lowest."

"I don't think I'm better than you," said Finn, aggravated. "I just want you to help with the firewood!"

"You think that because you got to live in this stupid world before it rotted out, that means you can do as you please," Keiro said. "Well, your kingdom is dust and rubble now. You're-"

"Fine," Finn said, cutting Keiro off. "I'll go gather the wood myself."

It was a tactic he'd seen Keiro use dozens of times before, starting a fight to avoid something he didn't like or felt threatened by. It was incredibly effective with the Comitatus. But Finn knew the trick too well to fall for it, and he didn't have time for a pointless argument. He pushed past Keiro and further into the trees, grabbing fallen branches at random as he went.

It was a few minutes before he realized Keiro was following behind him, gathering wood diligently, as if he'd never wanted to do anything else.

This only incensed Finn further. "Alright," he said, turning around so they were face to face. "What's your problem, Keiro?"

"I don't have a problem" said Keiro, sounding equally angry. "I'm gathering wood, as his majesty commands."

"We're gathering wood to make camp, Keiro." 

"Fine, then I'm gathering wood to make camp. Is there an issue?"

Why was Keiro doing this? Why had Finn put up with it for so many years? "You won't do any work, then the minute I go to do it for you, you start up again. It's like you're-" Keiro visibly bristled, which meant Finn was moving in the right direction. "Like you're following me," he said. "Why?"

Keiro looked murderous, but he spoke in a measured tone. "Every time you leave my sight, you wind up somewhere crazier than before. I took an Oath to watch your back. I still remember, even if you don't."

Didn't remember? "Of course I remember!" Finn said. "You were all I could think about for months. I hardly slept, thinking of you." His eyes prickled and threatened to cry. He clutched his firewood tighter.

"Right, of course," Keiro said. "You thought of me. How kind."

Keiro didn't understand. He didn't know the hours Finn had spent in the portal, shouting at the controls and sometimes at Jared, fighting the urge to rip everything apart for the crime of keeping Keiro away from him. Finn wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, force him to understand how much it had hurt. "It was miserable without you."

"Sorry to hear it," Keiro snapped. "Would've been nice to have been able to keep in touch. I was a bit busy being stuck in Incarceron with no Oathbrother. I didn't hear a word from you for weeks. You  _ left _ me!"

Finn met Keiro's eyes. He'd learned to find Keiro's true thoughts there: even when the rest of his face was carefully controlled, there were subtle shifts in his gaze that Finn had learned to read. Right now they were full of anger, not the petty anger he'd seen so often in the Prison, but something deep and painful. He really believed Finn had abandoned him.

"Keiro, I-" Finn dropped his bundle and reached out, tentatively, to touch Keiro's shoulder. Keiro froze, but didn't push him away, which he took as encouragement. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "It was- I thought I had to. I've spent every day regretting it."

"Fat lot of good it does now," said Keiro, turning his head to look at the ground. Was he  _ blushing? _

"I won't leave you again."

Keiro held still for a very long moment. "You'd better not," he said at last. "It'll be the last thing you ever do." His voice was light, almost glib. Back to hiding everything. But when he looked Finn in the eye again, something seemed to have shifted. His gaze was a little softer, just a little easier.

He hefted his bundle of branches. "Let's get back to camp and make a fire. I'm sick of carrying all this around."

~~

They hadn't talked about it, and Claudia wasn't going to bring it up. She supposed the ought to show Attia some gratitude, but what could she say?  _ Thank you for saving my life. I still hate your guts, and I won't tell you why, because I don't know myself. _

Instead of thinking any more about it, she gazed up at the trees, imagining she could still see the glow of the portal hanging in the air above them. It had been stupid of her not to thnk of it before, but it wasn't until the house had dcollapsed that she had realized there would be a problem. The portal to Incarceron was special, somehow immune to the Realm's decay. The good news was that the door to what she'd always thought of as her father's study remained intact. The bad news was that without the house around it, it was suspended nearly fifty feet off the ground.

"We'll need to build a platform," she murmured, more to herself than to Attia.

Attia spoke up anyway. "Yes," she said, in that high, delicate voice that was so incongruous with her dirty face and wiry, muscular build. "As soon as possible. Is there a smith in your village?"

"There's a carpenter."

A pause. Then, "Yes, of course. Can he help us?"

"I'm sure he can," Claudia lied. It had been years since she'd been to the village, and she wasn't sure what the peasants and tradespeople there would think of her.

_ They'll like Finn, though, _ she told herself. Finn had turned the Warden's servants to his cause; he could do the same for the village. For the whole Realm, if he wanted to. He had seemed to finally be ready to take that responsibility, when they'd gone to war with the Queen. As long as Keiro wasn't filling his head with stupid ideas, there was nothing to worry about.

"What will they do in the meantime?" Attia's voice broke Claudia from her thoughts. 

"What do you mean?"

"The Prisoners. They won't know about the Portal being so high up. How will we make sure anytime coming through doesn't fall?"

Claudia was glad she was looking away from Attia; the other girl wouldn't see her embarrassment. People coming out of Incarceron had been the last thing on her mind. "I'm sure someone Inside knows," she said. "Jared. My father. They'll keep things in order."

It was Jared she'd been thinking of. With the portal unreachable, she had no way of getting to him. That piece of knowledge was almost unbearable, worse even than losing her house. Jared was her home in a way the mansion had never been.

"Well, we'll need to be quick, or else they'll have another riot on their hands," Attia was saying, but Claudia was saved from having to respond when Finn and Keiro came out from the trees.

"I'm going to bed," Keiro announced loudly, dropping his bundle of firewood on the ground. "Seeing as how we have nothing to eat, we may as well sleep. Watch my back, Finn." With that, he settled himself on the ground and shut his eyes.

Claudia glowered, moving to pick up the bundle he'd dropped. Why couldn't he understand that they had to work together? With no power in the Realm, they had precious few resources to get everything back under control; getting in each other's way would only make everything worse.

Finn stacked the wood into a campfire, and Attia lit it with a piece of flint from her pocket. "You should sleep," Finn said to the two of them. "I'll keep the first watch."

Claudia shot another glare in Keiro's direction. "Fine," she said, "but wake me up in a couple of hours. I don't want you staying up all night."

"I won't," Finn said. Claudia raised her eyebrows in a  _ you'd better not _ motion, then settled herself down on the opposite side of the fire from Keiro.

In the morning, they would reach the village. It was likely that the residents' homes had fared better than her own - they didn't have the money for the non-Era comforts which had been her home's downfall - but even if everything was intact, they'd face a new challenge there. The Steel Wolves and the Queen's men had scattered after the battle. Claudia, Finn, Keiro, and Attia hadn't seen another person since waking up in the courtyard this morning. Tomorrow, that reprieve would end, and Claudia would be thrust back into the all-too-familiar world of politicking and grasping for power. Only this time, everything would already be in chaos.

She clutched the seal, resting beside her heart. There was one benefit to all this: with the Queen and Medlicote gone, there was nobody left to question her lineage. The Arlexi were the most powerful family in the realm now. With the seal, everyone would have to back her. And she would back Finn. Together they'd create peace in the Realm, a real, lasting peace that wasn't built on the mistreatment of the poor.

It was with this conviction in her mind that she closed her eyes, and fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The joke is Attia doesn't know what a carpenter is because there's no wood in Incarceron
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading! I'm hoping to upload a new chapter every week or 2, probably on the weekends, so keep an eye out!


	3. Chapter 3

The carpenter's name was Silas, and he had to be one of the most ancient people Attia had ever seen. It seemed unlikely that he'd be able to lift a hammer, much less construct a three-stories-tall platform, but Claudia had said he was the one who could help. 

"People will get  _ hurt _ ," said Attia for what seemed like the thousandth time. "The portal can't be closed. People are going to come through, and if you don't build something for them, they'll fall to their deaths!"

"That' no business of mine," said Silas, also for the thousandth time. He crossed his arms and glared at them across the counter. "Either you pay or you leave."

"Listen here, old man-" Keiro started, but he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind them.

"What's this?" asked the person who had walked in, and Attia turned to see a short, muscular woman, her pale skin and blonde hair streaked with dust. "Dad, are you causing trouble again?"

"About time you got back, Ivy," said Silas. "I was explaining to these two that we don't work for free. I'd've had to toss them out myself," he grumbled, and Ivy's mouth quirked up in a half-smile.

"Alright," she said. "I'll deal with them. Why don't you go in the back and count inventory, alright?" Silas grumbled, but he heaved himself off his stool and disappeared behind a curtain.

Ivy walked around the counter and took his seat, looking up at the two of them. "Dad's had a tough couple of days," she explained. "All this business with the power going out. How can I help you?"

Attia let out a breath of relief. Keiro had followed her lead so far, but if Ivy hadn't walked in when she did, things might have gotten ugly. "We were told your father is a carpenter," she said. "And that means you build things. We need a platform built so that the portal to Incarceron will be safe."

Ivy gave her an odd look. "The… portal to Incarceron?"

"Yes," Attia said. "The one in the Wardenry. The house fell down, and now the portal is stranded in the air."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I know what you mean." Ivy's brow furrowed. "There's no way in or out of Incarceron. Or- well, I suppose there must be one, if Prince Giles came through it, but that was at Court."

"No," said Attia, frustrated. "There's a portal in the Warden's house. It's a white room full of buttons and screens. And people are going to come out of it, and they're going to fall and die!" Hadn't she just had this conversation? Would she have any other conversation ever again?

"Come out of it?" Ivy repeated, pulling a tablet across the counter. She poked it a few times and, when the screen didn't light up, cursed under her breath and pushed it away. "Alright," she said. "That's- alright. I'm sorry, you said people are coming out of Incarceron?"

"Yes, people are coming out of Incarceron. We came out of Incarceron. Incarceron tried to come out of Incarceron! What do you think the power failure was?" Attia looked across the counter at Ivy, silently begging her to understand, but Ivy looked more confused than ever.

Keiro let out a sigh. "Alright," he said. "Let's start at the beginning."

~~

Claudia didn't like how normal everything seemed in the village. It was true that the power failure would have less impact away from Court, where the residents had less electricity to start with- but she'd just fought a war, for god's sake. She should expect things to be a little bit different, shouldn't she?

Finn was taking things in stride better than she was. But then, he didn't have anything to compare it against. He'd done most of the talking as they made their way around town, looking for anybody in charge that they could talk to. After wandering aimlessly for far too long, someone had finally pointed them towards the east end of town, where they found a large house in rather worse repair than those around it.

"I suppose that's where Ronan lives?" said Finn, pointing. Ronan, according to the villagers, was the closest thing the Wardenry had to a mayor.

"I suppose so," said Claudia. "Finn, when we go in there, you've got to be confident. You've got to be Prince Giles."

Finn pursed his lips. "Do you think I can't be myself?" he asked. He put too much emphasis on  _ myself _ . It made him sound uncertain.

"I didn't say that," said Claudia, irritably. "Besides, it's not about  _ can. _ You don't have a choice. The people need you now."

"I know who I am," Finn insisted.

It had already been a long day, and Claudia felt cruel. "Do you really believe that?" she snapped.

She expected Finn to recoil, but his voice was steady. "I do."   
  


"Fine." Claudia should have been happy that Finn was so sure, but she was annoyed that she hadn't gotten more of a reaction. "Make them believe it." Shestarted toward the house, walking ahead of Finn so she wouldn't have to talk to him.

She was about to knock angrily on the door when it opened, and she was standing face-to-face with a tall, broad-shouldered person, who looked just as surprised as she was.

Claudia came back to herself first. "Ronan, I presume?" she said.

"Er- yes," said Ronan. "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"Claudia Arlexa," she said, drawing herself up as tall as she could. "The Warden's daughter and- heir apparent to the Wardenry. This is Giles, Crown Prince of the Realm." 

"The- oh." Ronan's eyes widened. "Prince Giles. My lord. Please, walk with me. I'd invite you inside, but-" they looked up at the sagging house.

"It's no problem," said Claudia, her voice walking the line between kindly and dismissive. "Tell us what's been going on here."

Ronan seemed to know everyone they passed as they walked back up the street. They greeted people with a friendly gesture or a warm word, luckily too occupied to notice the way Finn lagged behind. Claudia grabbed his arm and yanked him up to where she was, tucking her hand in his elbow so he was leading her like a gentleman. Their flight from Court, and the ensuing battle, had been a reprieve for him from the etiquette he hated. But he had to be Prince Giles again, and that meant he had to behave like royalty.

"It seems the village is making a quick recovery," Claudiasaid, grabbing Ronan's attention back as she and Finn settled into step.

"We were lucky," Ronan said. "Most of the power here was used for cold storage, not housing. Things will be worse after the harvest, when winter comes, but at least we've mostly got places to sleep."

Claudia took a moment to look Ronan up and down. They were broad-shouldered and square-jawed, with gray hair falling in waves to their shoulders. "When is the harvest?" she asked. "Do you have much time to prepare?"

"Unfortunately not. Without the weather control, things are already getting chilly. We'll need to start hauling crops in a week or two."

"I see." Claudia pursed her lips.

"How can we help?" Finn asked. Claudia told herself not to step on his foot. They were supposed to be  _ getting _ help in uniting the Realm, not offering it to the first person they met.

Ronan looked thoughtful. "I suppose," they said, "the main thing everyone needs is to know just what happened. Some people still think the power's going to come back." They glanced sidelong at Finn. "I suppose a word from the Crown Prince might help everyone feel better. Let them know everything hasn't changed so drastically."

"We can do that," said Claudia, not giving Finn the chance to butt in. "This evening, maybe?"

"This evening," agreed Ronan. "I'll let everyone know to come to the square."

"Perfect," said Claudia. "We can't wait."

\--

"Wait," said Ivy, after Keiro had finished explaining. "So you're saying Incarceron caused the power failure?"

"That's right," he said.

"And that now Prisoners can come and go as they please."

"Sort of," Attia interjected. "There's only one way Out, and it's… kind of off in the middle of nowhere, and only one person can really come through at a time, and there are thousands of Prisoners. So it's a bit more complicated than that."

Ivy whistled, leaning back on her stool. "All the same," she said. "That's going to be a lot of people."

"Yes, which is why we need to make sure the way Out is safe," said Attia.

"And they're coming… here."

" _ Yes _ ," said Attia, and Keiro had to fight off the urge to smile. He'd seen her angry, and spiteful, but never so pettily annoyed. "So are you going to help, or not?"

Keiro could see Ivy calculating something in her mind. "A pile of bodies won't do you or your town any good," he interjected. He hesitated, then added, "Besides, this is a request from the Warden's daughter and the Prince. I'm sure they'll remember that you did this for them."  _ Or that you didn't _ , he thought, but didn't say. Finn wouldn't like Keiro making promises in his name, but he might actually kill him over threats.

Ivy's eyebrows rose as she looked up at Keiro. "Alright, alright," she said. "You've convinced me. I'll go out and take a look tomorrow."

After they walked out of the store, Attia rounded on Keiro. "You shouldn't have done that!" she hissed.

"I don't see what you're so upset about," said Keiro, playing dumb. "I left out the bit where you said you'd follow Finn like a dog."

"You know I mean making that promise!" Attia kept her voice low, but her eyes were burning. "Bribery, Keiro? When we've only just got here?"

This, Keiro thought, was why you should never do nice things for people. They never showed any gratitude. "I can go take it back if you'd like," he said. "Oh, miss, I'm sorry. We seem to have been mistaken. We want you to spend days and days building a staircase to nowhere and we don't want to give you anything in return after all. I don't know if you noticed, Attia, but she didn't seem keen on letting thousands of Prisoners into her town."

"So it's better to buy her off, then."

"Given that she's a tradeswoman, yes, we do literally need to buy her services."

Attia threw her hands in the air in frustration. "So you're just going to promise political favors to everybody we need something from? Good luck getting dinner every night for the rest of your life!"

Keiro opened his mouth to say something belittling, but just then the two of them rounded a corner to find themselves face to face with Finn and Claudia, who seemed to be having an equally heated discussion. All four of them fell suddenly silent, staring at each other for a long, awkward moment.

Well, if nobody else was going to break the silence, then Keiro would. "We got your carpenter," he said. "I told her the Prince would do something nice for her, so you'd better think of something good, Finn." Finn looked resigned, but Claudia's face scrunched in a way he didn't like. "And you?" he went on, before she could yell at him. "What did you find out?"

Claudia struggled visibly for a moment before her expression smoothed over. "Things here are better than we thought. What people need is to know what's going on. Finn's going to give a speech this evening. Oh," she added, "And we can stay with Ronan. They're… Well, the Wardenry doesn't have a mayor, but they're the town's caretaker. They said they could put us up for a while."

Nobody seemed to want to ask how long a while would be. "That's good," said Attia. "Finn, do you need help preparing anything?"

Finn looked up at the sky, which was turning red with what Keiro had begun to understand was sunset. "No time," he said. C'mon, we were just on our way to the square."

Attia was still angry with Keiro, and Claudia and Finn didn't seem to want to talk to each other, so they fell in step with Claudia and Attia in front, and Keiro and Finn behind. Keiro glanced sidelong at Finn. He was stiff - from anger, or nerves? Probably a little of both. "You're going to do fine, Brother," he said, hoping he was quiet enough that Attia and Claudia wouldn't hear.

"I have to tell a town full of people that the world as they know it has ended," said Finn.

"And that their Prince is here to save them," Keiro added. "You're giving them hope. It's not even really a lie." He bumped Finn's shoulder with his own. "You're good at telling people what they want to hear. You can do this. It's just like-" Keiro stopped himself. He'd been about to bring up the Civicry job. It had been some of their best work - the biggest haul the Comitatus had gotten in weeks, and Finn deserved all the credit. But he'd gotten attached to that Maestra, and now the memory of it would only make him feel guilty and insecure. "-like that time with the Wire Syndicate," he pivoted. "You played them like a fiddle. And we got Zoma back without even fighting. Granted, I'm not sure Zoma's much of an asset…"

Finn rolled his eyes. "I thought you said it wasn't lying."

"Lying, not lying, it's all the same to me," said Keiro with a shrug. "It's about giving people what they need. You know that, Finn. Hell, you're better at it than I am." He gave Finn his most winning smile. "That's why you're my Oathbrother. We round each other out. Now go do your job, and I'll do mine."

"That's what I'm afraid of," said Finn, but he was smiling as well. Keiro clapped him on the back as he caught up with Claudia, who led him to the head of the square. Keiro and Attia blended into the small crowd that had gathered to listen to him.

Finn cleared his throat, looking nervous all over again. "Citizens of the Wardenry," he said, his voice wavering the tiniest bit. "Thank you for listening to me. My name is- I am Prince Giles, last of the Havaarna Dynasty and heir to the Realm.

"You may have heard of my return from Incarceron. You may have heard that there was a second claimant to the throne. You've certainly seen the catastrophe that's befallen the Realm these last few days." Finn swallowed. "Indeed," he went on, "There was a second claimant. He was a commoner used by Queen Sia to undermine my rightful inheritance." Finn's fists clenched. "He tried to take my identity from me. He tried to tell me I don't know who I am. But when the Realm's power went out, I stayed the same, and he was revealed for what he was. As was the Queen. Her youth disappeared, and she died.

"It was Protocol that did this to us." Finn's voice was stronger now. "My grandfather, King Endor, trapped us in an Era where the rich grew richer at the expense of the poor. He trapped half our population in Incarceron, a Prison that he claimed would be a Paradise. Well, I've seen Incarceron, and I've come to realize that there can be no paradise as long as people are kept locked up. I'm not going to let anyone be trapped anymore. Not by Incarceron, and not by Protocol.

"In the Prison, they called me Starseer. I saw visions and dreams of a better world, and they trusted me to lead them to it. Incarceron is open now, and any Prisoner who wishes can come out and see the stars. I promise to do the same for the Realm. We no longer have electricity, but we don't have Protocol, either. The days of rich and poor are over. From now on, we're all equals. And we'll work together to build the world we dream about."

Keiro clapped furiously, hoping some others around him would join in his projected enthusiasm, but the crowd was responding well on its own. A couple whoops and cries of "Giles!" went around as villagers took Finn's words to heart. Finn blushed and smiled, taking a step back towards Claudia. Ronan moved up to talk about the next day's plans, but Keiro kept his eyes on Finn. Watching him speak, even Keiro's heart had started pounding with excitement. Finn had always been good at this, capturing people's attention and making them believe in him. Even after years of knowing him, Keiro wasn't immune. And who knew, maybe he was right. Maybe whatever came next really would be what he promised. It seemed unlikely, but then again, so had Finn's dreams of Escape. Keiro looked up at the darkening sky, where the stars were winking one by one into existence. Finn had brought Keiro the sky- who was to say he couldn't do this as well?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's nonbinary mayor hours babeyyyy
> 
> Shoutouts to @lycanthrowup for your fantastic Incerceron playlist on Spotify, I loved listening to it while writing this chapter!!


End file.
